Thursday, June 19, 2014

I Got a Trailer for Free. Was it Karma?

Sometimes you just get lucky. Or maybe it's karma in action. I've long thought about getting one of these smallish Harbor-Freight-like trailers—especially one of the folding varieties, as we're tight on space— however, I never pulled the trigger. I've long thought one would be perfect for towing behind our Suzuki Sidekick or our WRX. Hell, even our Yaris could tow one of these lightweights. Whether for camping excursions, taking yard debris to the compost site, moving, or whatever, I always wanted one.

Last week my friend, who ironically used to import these little trailers years ago, called me up saying he had a trailer for me and it wasn't going to cost anything. For years, he and I had discussed these little trailers and he always thought we'd be able to snag one on the cheap. And it turns out he was right. He did say it'd need a bit of work, but it wasn't in bad overall shape. It also turns out this may have been a bit of automotive karma in action.

A few years ago my friend had some parts for a 1960s Chevrolet truck at his house, and they'd been sitting around for quite some time. His new neighbor, out on a walk, got talking to my friend. It turned out he just happened to have a '60s Chevy pickup he was working on and was looking for the exact parts that were taking up space at my friend's house. My friend told the neighbor, "If the parts just disappeared, he wouldn't be too upset." Sure enough, the neighbor took the parts and both parties were happy. One gets car parts, the other gets more space in the garage. Harmonious, isn't it?

Fast forward to last week. My friend sees his neighbor is moving, and in front of the house is one of these little Harbor Freight folding trailers. He asks the neighbor if he's selling it, and the guy says, "If it just disappeared he wouldn't be too upset." I think we may have just witnessed a little bit of karma, folks.

My friend gives me a call and says the guy doesn't want anything for the trailer and tells me the story about the car parts for the '60s truck. He says to come by and we'll pick it up. And so I did. This goes to show that good friends are hard to find, and good friends who are willing to give you a free trailer are even harder to find.

Yes, the trailer needs a bit of work. This would include new running lights and taillights as well as new wiring, but that's pretty easy and inexpensive. I may outfit the trailer with LEDs all around, which would be a nice upgrade. It also has the trademark faded Harbor Freight red (now pinkish) paint, but that's also easily fixable with a few cans of Krylon. Maybe some teal to match the Teal Terror?

This should be a quick-and-easy project (famous last words) that should provide plenty of trailer goodness for the future.

So here's to good friends, karma, and small trailers! I can't wait to get working on it.

1 comment:

This is the perfect starting point for an offroad camping trailer, and with some creativity you could build it so that you don't lose its dump-hauling utility! A rooftop tent atop a small cargo box would mean you could haul the kitchen sink to camp in spite of the Teal Terror's limited cargo capacity.

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